PS315 Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways.Pdf [128.31
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PS/315 North Somerset Council: Core Strategy Examination Position statement from Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways Tuesday 13 December 2011 (Day 3) Issue 4(c) Infrastructure: projects required to support development We welcome the more positive approach to rail improvements, particularly the Bristol Metro and reopening to passengers of the Portishead line, taken by the Council’s recent position statements. We believe that, to be consistent with government policy on carbon reduction and modal shift, this positive approach should be reflected in the final wording of the Core Strategy itself. We repeat the suggestion made in our original submissions that policies T/1, T/2, T/3, and T/8 in the Local Plan should continue to be in effect until replaced by policies no less favourable to rail. It would, in our view, be unsound if, in adopting the Core Strategy, the Council were to resile from these important commitments made previously. In relation to specific projects, we comment as follows: (a) Portishead line As the Council has said, the reopening of the Portishead line to passengers is critical to serve existing needs, quite apart from any future development. The case for reopening is based on the high concentration of residential accommodation in Portishead combined with relatively few opportunities for employment in the town and the limited capacity of the A369, which makes bus rapid transit an inadequate option for this corridor. Since it is no longer clear that government policy requires consideration of an alternative to the rail link, and the use of the trackbed from Portbury to Portishead for bus rapid transit would hinder the reopening of the railway, we suggest that references to bus rapid transit to Portishead should be removed from the Core Strategy, and that the trackbed should be protected for rail use. We further suggest that there should be intermediate stations at Portbury (for park-and-ride users from the M5), Pill, and Ashton Gate (to serve the Bristol City stadium and local businesses), and that North Somerset and Bristol City Councils should work together on the project. (b) Bristol Metro We welcome the Council’s commitment to this project, its protection of land adjacent to the Bristol–Taunton line, and its plans for an enlarged car park at Nailsea and Backwell. We reiterate our suggestion for the protection of land at Worle and Yatton, to allow for future growth. Given the existing and proposed development along this corridor, it is unsatisfactory that there are no intermediate stations between Parson Street and Nailsea. We urge the reopening of stations at Long Ashton (to serve this large and important village) and Flax Bourton (where, in addition to housing, the coroner’s court is located), to make best use of the local train service that already runs along this route. Such stations could serve development at these locations while limiting increases in traffic. In view of the government’s commitment to electrify the Great Western main line from Paddington to Bristol and Cardiff, the Council should be pressing for extension of electrification to Weston-super-Mare, not only to allow London–Weston services to be 2 operated by electric traction throughout but also to allow the Bristol Metro services to be electrically operated. This would be consistent with government policy on carbon reduction, and (because of the faster acceleration of electric trains) would enable a more attractive all- stations service to passengers to be provided. Double track between Weston and Worle should also be considered, to improve capacity and reliability. (c) Weston-super-Mare We welcome the Council’s commitment to the Weston southern chord, and repeat our suggestion for a new station on the main line to serve the development planned for the Weston airport site. The station could be served by both fast and local trains, if the southern chord is built. We believe that provision of such a station should be a requirement if the airport site and its surroundings are to be developed (whether for housing or other uses), in order to mitigate the environmental effects of such development. We repeat our support for development of the area surrounding Weston-super-Mare station: it is important to improve the convenience and legibility of pedestrian routes from the station to the sea front and town centre. To the south of Weston, we repeat our suggestion for reopening the station at Uphill. (d) Minerals planning We reiterate our suggestion that the feasibility of transporting aggregates quarried at Stancombe (near Flax Bourton) and Durnford (near Long Ashton) by rail should be investigated. (e) Green infrastructure We repeat our suggestion that the Core Strategy should contain an equivalent to Local Plan Policy T/8, which protects as cycle routes the disused railway alignments between (i) Yatton and Clevedon, (ii) Congresbury and Blagdon, and (iii) Yatton and Winscombe. We believe the trackbed of the former Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway should also be protected. Disused railway corridors can be used to form cycle tracks and pedestrian routes which, because they are direct and level, are valuable for both commuting and leisure. They should be protected for this purpose. Summary The basis of our submissions is our view that development and transport infrastructure should be planned together. In order to be consistent with government policy on carbon reduction and modal shift, it is essential that adequate public transport is provided, both to support development and to mitigate its environmental effects. The Portishead line and Bristol Metro projects, including electrification to Weston, are the key transport issues in North Somerset. We further suggest that proper integration of development and infrastructure planning should mean opening new stations where development is planned (such as at the Weston airfield site), and focusing development at locations where there are (or there is potential for) stations, such as at Long Ashton and Flax Bourton. Provision for interchange between rail and bus at key nodes such as Nailsea or Worle can enhance the contribution that stations can make to environmentally friendly travel by enlarging their catchment area. Finally, the protection of former rail alignments as green infrastructure is an important aspect of planning policy, and this should be reflected in the Core Strategy. .